GTA IV Sees Incredible Launch, but Which Console Rules?

Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive, the developer and publisher of Grant Theft Auto IV are basking in the first week of record breaking sales of the game, as it bashed through the $500 million sales mark during its first week. As a matter of fact, GTA IV even shattered the single-day sales record previously held by Halo 3 on launch day, by selling more than $170 million worth of games. This is an amazing feat in the entertainment industry and clearly increases the value of the property of Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive.

Many thought that Grand Theft Auto IV was going to be a driver for sales of the Sony PlayStation 3 but some new Microsoft Xbox 360 figures have come to light. As GTA IV sold more than 6 million units in its launch week, Microsoft Xbox 360 sales went up by 54 percent over the launch week of GTA IV. According to retailers, more than 60 percent of the GTA IV games sold in that first week were the Xbox 360 version. Additionally, those retailers are also saying that the game is attached to new Xbox 360 sales almost 40 percent of the time.

In looking at that first week on Xbox LIVE, more than 2.3 million people played GTA IV on Xbox LIVE, making it the number one played game on that service. Over the launch weekend, Xbox LIVE service reached 1 million concurrent users, and gamers have unlocked more than 12 million achievements worth more than over 100 million gamerscore points in GTA. Lastly, Grand Theft Auto IV has set a new record for time played with the average gamer spending more than four hours playing the game on Xbox LIVE during the first week alone.

So, for the most part, Sony has been very quiet about its GTA IV experience other than to announce that the PS3 patch has been released. For the most part, It appears to us that GTA IV has been a great Xbox 360 experience, though we wouldn't count the PS3 down and out quiet yet. It might just be getting a slower start.

GTA IV Sees Incredible Launch, but Which Console Rules?

Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games are enjoying a record breaking week in the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV as the game breaks through the $500 million sales record.